The length of time ‘pedalling’ above 35 km/h will be a small percentage of most rides. Too bad. Believe me, if I thought a racing bike on 28 mm tires was faster than my randonneur bike with 42s, I’d have ridden that in Paris-Brest-Paris. They did three tests: on a roller, on the road and on gravel. Not unlike a road bike, a gravel bike prioritises pedalling efficiency with the assumption that the wheels will roll over the terrain they’re pointing at. (GCN’s table also shows that high pressures roll faster – that is only true on rollers, where the convex roller digs deeper into a softer tire.). Terrain that one person might be happy tackling on a road bike may see another wishing for a dual-suspension mountain bike. There is also a massive difference between an average speed of 15 and an average speed of 20 as the increased effort is exponential. The new frame handles much more responsively (fun) and responds better to accelerations… but this is due to the extreme geometry differences. The position is identical. Then when the wind is blowing around you on the bike, in the real world, there will be eddies and flurries of wind that has changes in direction and causes a dislodgement of laminar flow over your super duper aero frame and wheels which renders the design useless. I diesel rather than zip up hills. Many gravel bikes have a more upright riding position, which is less aero. I won’t pretend that a gravel bike is the better option for going fast on flowing singletrack, bombing a rough firetrail, or tackling a mountain bike marathon race. Many non-cyclists are excited about the idea of the all-road bike. S (53cm) M (56cm) L (58cm) XL (61cm) show all. I only took up cycling in my mid-60’s – and came across your early posts on the benefits of wider tires and became a convert running the widest possible tires on my Synapse. A gravel bike will of course still allow you to conquer terrain that sits at either extreme of our scale, but arguably it’ll need a change of tyres or wheelset in order to excel at one or the other. As you mention, cyclists are an incredibly un-aero shape, so all that really matters is frontal area. Handling felt cumbersome. When we arrived in Sedona, Arizona with 12 gravel bikes, many in the know thought we were nuts. Let’s put them on all-road bikes, where they’ll have more fun than on (slow) mountain or (uncomfortable) road bikes. In a typical scenario, riding off-road is a little difficult for some people to handle. https://www.renehersecycles.com/are-gravel-bikes-slower-than-road-bikes I notice the extra weight of wheels and frame. Pick what, how, and where you want to ride. Paris Roubaix is out of my league, but that said, my local roads aren’t getting any better. Base Build: Critical Cycles has made it easy for most shoppers on a budget by devising an uncomplicated wonder that can go for ages without requiring maintenance. They view these new bikes with a level of excitement that I haven’t seen since the mountain bike boom. Perhaps that will work for some riders. The higher rolling resistance is due to the tire’s casing, not its width. And clearly there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had by under-biking yourself on tamer trails. Fun, but a handful, to ride on deep gravel. I enjoyed riding so much that I'm now using that bike for longer tours (60-100km at 20km/h average speed, 1500m elevation) and also shorter rides (35km at 25km/h average speed, 350m elevation ). The rolling hills of the Cotswolds are not the same as the Scottish highlands.So hearing from someone else that their average is, say, 20 miles per hour, means very little if you don't know where they are riding.Some areas are naturally and frequently exposed to high winds. (You don’t want to get dropped on your Sunday morning ride!). And that is good for everybody – even for the bike industry! In turn, your glutes are more easily recruited to the task of pedalling, and so you can, in theory, pedal with greater efficiency. A mountain bike suspension fork adds an easy kilogram compared to a common rigid alternative. Also, I've considered a gravel bike, such as the Kona Rove or Salsa Vaya which would be a little more upright and wide tires. Often but not always with ‘guards & lights. Gravel Bikes Sort: Cube Nuroad Pro desert´n´black. And that can mean a lot of fun and a fresh look at where and how you ride.A gravel bike can raise a smile in so many ways… there are lots of It gets these often-divided sides partying together and experiencing a new form of cycling. Domane: very comfortable—even on rough dirt. In my experience, even in fast group rides – like the early stages of this year’s PBP – I have no problems keeping up on my Rene Herse with 650B x 42s. Really smooth out the poor road surfaces up in Ontario, and I have not noticed any diminution in speed on my rides. But a gravel bike is better suited to everywhere trails are not. I’m still learning how to ride this bike. Global Cycling Networks even did some – admittedly unscientific – testing: They ran a set of racing tires and a set of gravel tires. The 100 mm Cannondale Lefty fitted to the front of our Unno was a prime example of the control suspension adds, and where the front wheel would be bounced uncontrollably and dangerously through rocky sections while on a rigid gravel bike, the Unno just laughed it off and begged for more. I’m surprised that the bike industry is turning its back on these would-be cyclists. Drum rollers seem to deform tires more, making less supple tires appear slower (less efficient) The casing is pushed into a more extreme shape by the diameter of the roller. Colin Strickland’s 2019 Dirty Kanza success came with an average speed of 20.19mph, and at that speed aerodynamics is very important. Shopping for a gravel bike in 2019? Gravel bikes have grown in popularity for their ability to mimic the efficiency of a road bike while adding versatility for where they can be ridden. Anywhere. I’m sure you’re aware of this Jan. There is no reason why a gravel bike couldn’t use the same riding position as a racing bike (above). Le gravel bike (littéralement traduit par "vélo de gravier") vient des Etats-Unis où ce type de vélos correspond parfaitement à la traversée des grands espaces sur pistes en gravier. So often we joke that gravel bikes are just old mountain bikes from a time that’s now in the rearview mirror. I personally feel like being above 6 foot tall that 700c wheels are much better than 650b. On the other hand, if you ride slower than 22 mph, you’re probably faster on wider tires.). It is great that road bikes and gravel bikes are good at different things. While a modern mountain bike puts the rider in a position that more easily allows the maneuverability of those wheels: a higher front end and rearward weight distribution mean the front wheel is easier to loft over obstacles, while the hand position of a flat bar is more favourable for fighting a front wheel that’s being bumped offline. They are simply outstanding for a high-level gravel. However, if I am riding in a fast group at my limit I find I am much more likely to get dropped when it gets hard. Differences in airflow over tire and rim can be measured in the wind tunnel, but the effect is very small compared to the overall wind resistance of bike and rider. With two bags on a low-rider front rack it can even go camping, filling the long lost “sport touring” role. 2020 CyclingTips Gravel Bike Field Test: Is MTB geometry good for gravel? The push on e-bikes was the first clue gravel had already peaked, just as ‘cross had a few years earlier. Another way to look at it... A bike frame weighs 4-6lbs. That is why aero bars and the aero tuck work so well, and why even just lowering your stem by 20 mm does more than a set of aero wheels. Gravel is faster than trail. I love riding my bike (I have completed 200 miles in one day) – likely primarily due to design / construction, but also partly due to benefits of the wider tires. Still, whether a gravel bike or hardtail is best for you will always depend on how and where you ride, and what matters most to you. The position of a mountain bike is fairly fixed, while a dropbar offers up multiple hand (and body) positions to help swap things up on longer rides. (The more upright position may be more comfortable, especially for long rides, but this applies to road bikes just as much as it does to gravel bikes.). Even on flat land, a Tour de France pro’s average speed needs to be way up there in order to stay in the race. Clearly suspension is a good thing when you’re on rough terrain. Why does the industry insist that racing bikes are faster? In turn, a mountain bike suitable to many tailored trail networks can make riding simpler terrain, such as gravel roads, rather dull and slow-feeling. You’ll still get plenty of gears for most road riding, but you won’t have quite enough high gears for when the speeds gets very fast, like 26 mph to 30 mph or faster. Mine is as fast or faster than my road racing bike, better on gravel than any “gravel” bike, and also makes a better commuter than any “commuter” bike. I recently put the Standard casing Snoqualmie Pass tires on my wife’s aluminium Trek hybrid. ~ ENVE 4.5ARs where unfortunately I cannot use your tires so run 30mm nominal Schwalbe Pro Ones Tubeless (actual 32mm mounted) which I run at about 60 PSI. Fortunately, you can choose – Rene Herse makes tires for both . More information about the book is here. As you’ve mentioned before, skinny high pressure tires feel faster because they don’t deform over every bump and transmit every vibration to the rider. In truth, they sit somewhere between the two. It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m on a mountain, road or gravel bike. Certainly, I’m no faster when I ride a test bike with narrower tires. This is the very first time when I had the opportunity to test at the same time 4 very interesting gravel bikes. That is why we coined the term all-road bikes and don’t call them ‘gravel’ bikes. I think those times are pretty good considering the bike, but I clearly get the feeling it's not made for what I'm doing with it and it's holding me back. Gravel and Cyclocross Bikes Check out our amazing range of cyclocross bikes at Evans Cycles if you are after unrivalled versatility in a no-nonsense, traditional package. Perhaps this was a relatively early ‘all-road’ bike, I have two sets of wheels: Rather than trying to fill the garages of those who already ride, we should bring potential cyclists into the sport. Which leads me to a conversation about average speed, perhaps the best metric in deciding whether a gravel bike, or mountain bike, is right for you. My guess is it’s just easier to sell another bike to someone who already has one (three) than trying to create a new customer? Maintaining an average speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph) on a mountain bike, over rocky and technical terrain, would put you in a very elite category. this sensation feels faster to the rider. Pronounced /wAH-chUH/ The Inside Look Whether it’s speed for race day or versatility for the weekend escape into the unknown, Watia is the newest, most wildly capable titanium gravel bike Litespeed has ever created. 1.049,- € Cube Nuroad Race greyblue´n´orange. Aero? The 2kg weight saving isn’t even worth 5 minutes on the longest climb (2.5 hours). Is a light, cross-country hardtail MTB the ideal gravel bike? Suddenly, it no longer seems to be enough to want to ride a bike that will simply handle everything you throw at it on an adventure. In the end, choice is a glorious thing. I changed it for a road frame with the opposite geometry (Trek Emonda – very steep and short) as an experiment. Five bikes in one! Comfort is somwehere between Lynskey & Domane until on rough, wet, or gravel roads where it’s in a different league. 650b or 27.5in comes to us from touring bikes… The bike frame never determines how fast someone is. Aero is VERY IMPORTANT for an aeroplane flying at 500 kilometres an hour, not your average cyclist riding between 20-35 kph. At 8.9 kg and more than double the price of any gravel bike we tested, if there was ever a mountain bike to outshine a gravel bike on its home turf, this was it. The (very small) increase in wind resistance of the wider tires is compensated by a (very small) decrease in rolling resistance. With gravel rides matching distances that are done on the road, it’s unsurprising that there are serious gains to be had in both comfort and speed … The result: The racing tires were faster on all surfaces. Rolling resistance: Most gravel tires today are built like mountain bike tires, with stiff casings that absorb more energy and transmit more shocks than supple racing tires. read more, Compass has long championed the use of "road" tires on gravel. Of course, most already have a road bike, but that one has outdated rim brakes. As previously covered in our grading gravel feature, not all-terrain – or even people’s perception of that terrain – is equal. But, but, but … my overall average speed is more or less the same, and my times on the few Strava segments I check are too. The particular gravel bike I had was too long and slack. There’s also complexity in preventing the suspension from soaking up rider energy over smooth terrain, something that’s often handled with a manual lockout switch. These are questions we’ve pondered as gravel bikes have risen in popularity, and something we wanted to answer while at our inaugural Field Test in Sedona, Arizona. A couple of years ago I treated myself to a 70th birthday present –> a Ti ‘7’ built to a design by Steve Hogg based on measurements by his Canadian fitter (Mark Dwyer) – my input being it had to allow for wider tires even when mudguards are installed. Yes less aerodynamic steel bike with round tubes and wider tires IS slower than proper carbon aero bike with aero shaped tubes, aero wheels and 28mm tires. The issue with suspension is that it adds weight, complexity and cost to the bike. Critical Cycles Classic Track Bike. Or do gravel bikes truly fill a gap in the market that the progression of mountain bikes has left empty? Am I keeping it? Thus, less energy is required to maintain the bike’s speed. I would tend to concentrate more on proper handling geometry with comfort high on the design list. I have been running the 700×35 Compass/Herse tires on my bike for multiple years. Motor and battery: the right choices for a gravel e-bike Riding any kind of bike is always the right answer. It’ll be easy to convince them that they need a disc road bike with tubeless tires. The Rene Herse Cayuse Pass is one of the lightest tires you can buy. Any conditions. My fastest brevets were on the Domane (not by much). Aerodynamics of the rider: The rider is responsible for most of the wind resistance. Rather, the freshly painted line on the dirt road is related to the amount of suspension. For example, have you ever seen a wind vane stay totally steady in any kind of breeze? Why the bike biz folks don’t create a “Got milk?” type of marketing scheme to appeal to potential new customers is a mystery to me. Hi Im running cyclocross legal 32c tires tubeless and works well. Weight: Wider tires are heavier than narrow ones, but not by much. The 14% average step shown above for the Force/Red AXS 44 x 10-50 (our Mullet Build) is a little misleading- gears 2-12 are the exact same as 1-11 on a 13% step average Force1 10-42. When buying a gravel bike, hoosing between a single chainring ( known as 1x) and a double chainring ( hereby referred to a 2x) isn’t a straightforward choice. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. I regularly come home thinking I feel much fresher than I expected to. 2020 BMC URS Three gravel bike review: Ground broken, 2020 Marin Gestalt X10 gravel bike review: The wheelie machine, Bikes of the Bunch: Unno Aora, the world’s lightest mountain bike frame, 2020 Giant XTC Advanced SL 29 1 hardtail review: fast as, Specialized overhauls Epic HT: A 790g hardtail mountain bike frame. The suspension is only a part of the control and comfort package. And I know I’m faster on a lot of rough descents, passing people on 40mm tires pumped up to 85 psi because they want low rolling resistance…. Could it be that the little accelerations needed to grab the wheel after being on the front are a tiny bit harder than on a bike with narrow light tyres and at the limit this is enough to mean you are dropped, which then makes a big difference to your speed. With a 500% or 520% range a 1x12 AXS gravel bike has wider gearing than a GRX double. Here in Bali, you can be pedalling fast downhill for 40-60 minutes so the wheels noticeably help there. Unfortunately, full custom or a small number of low-production frames is the only way to get a bike like this. You’d be hard-pressed to buy a high-end mountain bike in 2020 that offers a front derailleur. Meanwhile, most recreational groups on a Saturday morning road ride have no problems holding that same speed. Bike industry loves to compare numbers and sell speed as the ultimate metric for success. A complete bike weighs 25lbs. Speed is safe – and fun! I really like the tires very much. One of the most obsolete post in your great blog! Physics are physics, but the question is ‘how much slower.’ And on the other hand, a bike that vibrates less is faster. However, the wide Q isn’t necessary: Many modern gravel and all-road bikes are designed to accept standard road cranks. colour: desert´n´black. Surprisingly good loaded with bike packing gear. On the bright side, it feels a bit light for a gravel bike made of steel. This bike handles great but is not at all versatile. Litespeed Watia Any terrain. Are gravel bikes slower than racing bikes? I clearly have to adjust my perceptions. We thoroughly test every Compass product before we release it. Here we go again. From gravel bikes for mountain bike trails to time trial gravel machines, you’ll find anything you can think of in the gravel universe. For two months now, I’ve had a custom steel bike built for brevets & gravel—thin tubes, low trail, mudguards, c/p brakes &c. And 38 mm Barlow Pass XL tyres (700c is easier to replace far from home than 650b—everything is a compromise). Speed varies widely by cyclist, depending on fitness, road conditions and traffic. Rode well on any tyres, but best on 35 mm BJP XLs. Can the bike industry please make the randonneur their next big thing? Maintaining an average speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph) on a mountain bike, over rocky and technical terrain, would put you in a very elite category. At Bike-Discount you'll find a wide selection of high quality Gravel bikes - also known as Adventure or Allroad bikes - leading manufacturers such as Cube, FOCUS, Breezer or Fuji. Better yet, we could link up different types of terrain efficiently and still enjoy the connecting road elements. The euphoria about gravel bikes is hitting a snag: Many riders feel that their gravel bikes are slower than their road bikes. In a group I find it hard to move with any surges. I guess that problem would be solved if everyone rode on 42mm tyres, and then the groups would go faster too…. Probably not for long. It was uninspiring to ride and didn’t even have useful mounts, but it was only when the speed went over about 35 km/h that I went backwards compared to my ride buddies on top road machines. What is a gravel bike and why do I need one? Simply, the rougher the terrain you wish to ride, the lower your average speed will likely be, and at a point, a mountain bike will become the better pick. The thinking seems to go like this: Now that many riders have bought a gravel bike, let’s convince them that they need a new road bike. Simply put, the better your tyre choice is for off-road use, the worse it’ll perform on smooth terrain. Concernant les pneumatiques, le gravel est doté, selon les modèles, de pneus typés cyclo-cross allant de 36 mm à 45 mm. However, the bike feels slow, slow, slow. It’s not. Otherwise, steel frames with skinny tubes would be faster than carbon bikes with large-diameter down tubes. I’m curious about others experiences. However, the dropped chainstays pioneered by Open have solved the problem of fitting wide tires between narrow cranks.). Q factor: Many ‘gravel’ cranks are very wide (above). Many gravel bikes these days have a 1x (single chainring) set up in the front. From there, a narrower drop handlebar further reduces your frontal profile compared to the wide flat handlebar of a mountain bike. Used for commuting, brevets, and bike packing tours on rough & gravelly roads. (Some riders prefer the more stable feel of bigger wheels and tires. If you are running a more standard racing tire, like the Continental GP 5000 (221 g), the difference to the 48 mm-wide tires shrinks to just 384 g. And you get some of that weight back, because the smaller 650B rims and shorter spokes weigh a bit less. The answer is: ‘It depends.’ There are a few things that can make a gravel tire slower: Aerodynamics of the bike: Wider tires catch a tiny bit more wind, but a 10 mm increase in frontal area doesn’t make a huge difference. average speed depends on the gravel but its usually 5 mph less than smooth pavement and road tires. (Remember: the component of velocity when calculating drag is always squared). It seems to me like the only real difference (meaning, what will make a real difference in road riding speed) are the tires. They want a bike – one bike – that combines speed with comfort and the ability to go off the beaten path. The difference in intended terrain has seen mountain bikes become far more specialised in the gearing they feature, too. And that makes sense: a mountain bike is perfectly suited to a mountain bike destination. All of that is a worthwhile trade-off if you’re predominately riding off-road, but it becomes an obvious nuisance when it’s an unneeded feature. The rest of us know that swapping the heavy, stiff ‘gravel’ tires for a set of supple, fast-rolling tires will make your gravel bike as fast as a road bike. Sedona is known as a pretty rough and raw mountain bike destination, and the roads are clearly made for cars. Fast on rough/deep gravel, but pretty harsh. To add to the 12 gravel bikes we tested, we brought along what’s arguably the nicest and most efficient hardtail mountain bike money can buy: an Unno Aora. Likewise, the single chainring they’re set up with assumes you’ll be conquering some incredibly steep and loose terrain at lower speeds, and not pedalling midpack in a road group. It's easy to spec anything from a 28t to 48t chainring, but most gravel builds go with a 42 as it will handle everything from steep 4mph climbs to 35mph descents without issue. No difference to speed or handling when I changed fork from carbon to steel. So if gravel bikes are effectively where mountain bikes came from, then why not just pick a modern mountain bike? Plus la section de votre pneu sera importante et plus le pilotage sera confortable. Are you using different wheels on the same bike? You can certainly add larger gearing to a mountain bike, but soon enough you’ll be limiting its ability to excel in its intended purpose. These days, the best gravel bikes can roll on either standard 700c wheels or smaller 650b hoops wrapped in chunkier tyres. And it’s this stark difference in speed that has perhaps helped define the design differences between modern gravel and mountain bikes. Or different bikes? Taking the increasing speed of gravel riding and racing alone, the evidence for the importance of aerodynamics was clear. I used to think that suspension was the defining line between gravel bikes and mountain bikes, but clearly, that’s no longer the case. How do you test a bike like Mitch Pryor's latest MAP All-Road? Instead, they keep trying the old strategy of selling bikes to those who already have plenty. Thank you for sharing the observation. For example, James Huang, the technical expert from CyclingTips.com, posted: “I’ve been spending too much time on gravel and mountain bikes lately. A Specialized Crux would probably have felt massively better also, but allowed wider tyres (still no useful mounts). We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. It is not simple and easy otherwise. I have several bikes including my loved and very versalite 10,5+ kg Cannondale slate with 650b 42mm tires and dropper and 7kg carbon race bike. Is it true? above are plenty light.). (Due to carbon’s lower density, you need wider chainstays on a carbon bike. What about rider fatigue? It’s the bike I tried to cobble together for years (before I knew it existed) but was always let down by geometry, tubing selection, tire clearance, decent fender/rack mounts, or all of the above. I may keep the wheels; they will cut through a muddy CX course if nothing else, but when I return to the twisty, undulating terrain of the UK/Ireland with unpredictable weather I will be going back to bigger tyres and mudguards! All 700c. A 650B x 48 mm Rene Herse Switchback Hill Extralight tips the scales at just 413 g. Still, a set of Switchback Hills will weigh about 450 g more than our featherweight 700C x 26 Cayuse Pass (183 g each) – but that difference is little more than half a water bottle. Said, my local roads aren ’ t matter to me whether I ’ m no when... Might be happy tackling on a carbon bike of terrain efficiently and enjoy. Gravel e-bike riding any kind of breeze time that ’ s speed rolling resistance is due to amount! 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